Rug Manufacturing Process

During BIID CPD Showcase The Rug Company explained us the process of rugs manufacturing. It was really fascinating to learn all those steps and to see where those beautiful interior end products come from. This gave us a good understanding of the whole process and especially lead times. A lot of customers and designers always get surprised by the long lead times of bespoke rugs and carpets, but after learning how much time it actually takes to make the rug, it starts to become reasonable :)

The Rug Company manufactures their rugs in Nepal. First wool needs to be collected by shaving those beautiful Tibetan mountain sheeps. Usually it happens once per year before summer.

When when wool is cut and collected, the jumbled fibres need to be teased and straightened by hand using a special device. This process is called Carding.

The carded wool or other fibres can then be spun into yarn. Experienced Nepalese spinners are able to produce yarn at various thicknesses to create rugs with higher or lower know counts.

When wool was spinned into yarn, it needs to be dyed. Dyeing process is not easy and Dye Master is considered to be the most important person at this stage. He is responsible for matching the colours and preparing the dyes.

Dyed yarns are then left to dry naturally in the sun on the roofs of Kathmandu. Natural drying process is quite important in wool manufacturing and weather factor could as well influence the overall lead time of the rug.

Once the dyed yarns have dried, they are collected and wound into balls ready to be taken to the loom.

The rug design pattern is drawn by hand to specify position of every colour and position of the knot and it sits behind the loom for to help the workers.

The weaving is carried out by skilled craftsmen working in synchronisation on the loom. The majority of our rugs are made with the Tibetan technique in which the yarn is knotted around the vertical warp threads and a metal rod. The higher the knot count, the finer the rug. Once the row is complete, the rod is hammered tightly against the row below. The weaver then cuts the yarns along the rod, creating the pile.

After rugs weaving process is finished, they are washed on both sides left to dry naturally in the sun. Once dry, the rug is laid flat and the pile cut neatly to the required height by hand. Clipping is another part of the finishing process; boundaries between different colours or pattern elements are defined and differences in pile heights are smoothed.

The final stage involves neatly wrapping the sides of the rug in a yarn that matches the design. The rug is then ready for its new home.

The Rug company also made a very inspirational video showing this process. Click HERE to see it.

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